"Sorry for jumping on top of your food stall and freighting away potential customers. It's no excuse for my actions, but I was chasing a thief"
After returning to the food stall I quietly asked if I could speak to the middle aged man in private.
"*Humph* Did you catch them?"
"Yes, a rogue demon"
"Huh, demon?"
"Sinclair is dealing with it now. Please keep this matter private"
"Ah... I know well enough not to cross her, my family doesn't need that sort of trouble"
I came to apologise, but it only came off as intimidation. Just what the hell does Sinclair do to elicit a response like that?
We walked back to the food stall Ota was looking over while I talked to cook.
"Hey, what do you cook here?"
It was a relatively plain stall, a metal hotplate and cool box underneath with a water barrel on the side. No logos, name or pictures, just chalk on a blackboard.
Can't blame Ota for being curious, I'm interested too.
There was nobody lined up when I jumped on top, nor since and the stove was still hot.
"Oh, I was trying to experiment with mixing hot pastry and cool sweet food, but no bites"
That actually didn't sound too bad. It reminds me of a dish Arisu had been trying to recreate with no success, she couldn't nail the pastry part. I think she called it a crepe?
"Hmmm"
"Can we buy two please?"
"I won't turn down a customer. You know, it's a bit expensive because of the Halewt milk, so I guess that puts people off... You sure you want some?"
He seemed like a nice guy, just down on his luck. I want to support him, at least a little.
"Yes"
"Yep"
"Alright, sit tight and I'll cook it up, well... stand tight or whatever"
What I saw next took me by surprise. Zero magic, zero technique, just pure culinary skill. Sliding liquid pastry across the flat hot pan, shaping it with the same hand while cutting bright red fruit with his other sharp spatula on a chopping block.
Flicking his left wrist up sending the pastry spatula into a small slit used for holding, my jaw almost hit the ground. He didn't need to use spells, he had achieved mastery through efficiency and speed so impressive a small crowd started to gather round just to watch.
It was an elaborate dance of an apron wearing, beer bellied chef.
The sound of busy people walking from place to place slowly quieted down as the street watched baited breath.
A man just making a crepe.
He had yet to name the food of course, but it looked exactly like what Arisu had been drawing as a description.
All his sign said was 'Warm wraps with fruit', no wonder it got no interest.
Using tongs, he placed the cut bright red fruit on the wrap as it neared completion while his other hand whipped cream then swapped to another mixture, a deep brown and fragrant strange liquid.
Finally pouring the cream and sauce in different portions then closing the wrap, moving it to the side and starting the next crepe.
"Hey Ota... you wouldn't happen to have a way to call Arisu over?"
"No point, she can't stop me eating this"
I could see saliva slowly drip from the bottom of her helmet, I don't know why she's still wearing it, wait does being hungry count as an emotion strong enough to make her armour?
*Shss tong*
Judging by that full breastplate, yes, yes it is.
She will fight bravely to keep the crowd at bay for a single bite of a crepe.
Eyebore provided us with plenty of money that this was hardly a drop in the bucket, but from what I can tell it cost double of a normal small cake.
The pervious currency we are transitioning from is 'Marks'. A system of coin valued for its practical use as it mixed dwarf dragon scales and soft Nori together. Both materials are used excessively in tools and equipment of all varieties. However, after the breeder was murdered and farm destroyed, not to mention the overabundance of Nori, a new currency was needed.
Cryic was the solution. A production of rare metals and fine mana crystals turning into a shiny mirror-like square coin with a glowing inner triangle. On one side, it had symbols of each major city within the Nala alliance.
A hollowed out mountain without as summit housing a city within was placed right in the middle of the coin's illuminating centre, matching its angles. When you tilt the coin, the image looks as if existed in all angles, all 3 dimensions.
Quite a step up from the bland grey and brown coins, plus these could fuse together and create a slate, five to one, then each two slates form a different rectangular note that could fit in a palm, and each set amount created with its own equivalent size and value up to one hundred. So five, ten, twenty, fifty and one hundred, fifty needing more than just two on tier underneath of course, it had to add up you know?
Magic sure is a hell of a thing.
Now as both Crepe's had been made, I handed over the currency pamphlet, two thousand marks and twenty Cryic in exact coins. Each Crepe is ten thousand Marks, enough to buy ten red skinned Pappy fruit.
"Hey uh, are you sure?"
"Yeah, this was why finding that thief was important. You also happen to be the first one in the district to receive these new coins. Please read the pamphlet when you get the chance"
"Wow, first her, then the Alliance? You must be pretty important to do this eh?"
"No... I'm just... filling in for someone very unlucky. I also expect her to become your best customer. If you see a Beast-kin with silky white hair tied into a long tail, incidentally also without a tail, tell her 'I have Crepe's'"
"'Crepe's'?"
"It's a treat from her... hometown. She misses very much but failed recreating them, this looks like -Hey! Ota!"
She took a bite of mine after just finishing hers as we spoke, she even went so far to turn her full helmet into an open Salet, the sly devil!
"You don't understand! These are sooo good! Let's get more"
"No! Bad girl! You want more, than you line up ok?"
"Hey! Don't talk to me like a pet!"
I didn't misspeak, a line formed from the passer-by's, mostly consisting girls. If I could make a prediction, it would be that this food might become an overnight sensation. Word of mouth can do wonders sometimes.
"We better get going, we're holding up the line"
"But, I want another..."
"*Sigh* Just take mine"
"Huh? You aren't going to try it?"
As we started to walk away, I took a bite and passed it over much to Ota's surprise. It was tasty, sweet and creamy, a unique flavour, I can see the appeal. As someone whose past basically only consisted of one ingredient meals, it was luxury.
Arisu tends to experiment with food all the time. I wouldn't call her a chef per say, especially with the amount of burnt food or failed endeavours, yet she really does try her best to learn and perfect dishes. This, what I just had a bite of, was a meal made by a chef. While basic, really just a few ingredients, it was divine.
"Wow that's good. I can see why she was desperate to recreate it"
In the time I took to savour that bite as we walked away, she almost finished my Crepe, avoiding the spot I took a bite from.
"Aren't you worried you'll put on weight?"
"You really don't know that much about Oni do you?"
"Not really, but what does that even mean?"
"Heh, if I was a blue Oni all the food would go to my gut instead of just Sake! Haha!"
"I don't get it"
"Come on, you know. The blue and red Oni tribes? The group I was a part of split off from the red tribe like fifty years back and our chief married a blue Oni, which is why my skin is a bit less red I think... Anyway, after creating a new tribe from his seven wives and thirty kids-"
Seven wives... thirty kids...
"-one of those being my parent, we settled down in this town. Until... well you know-"
They were murdered in the riots ten years ago, Ota being the sole survivor who came through mentally and physically broken. Arisu told me a bit about her and how I might need to be a little patient at times, no kid deserves to watch their family and friends killed in front of them, then be dragged out of a fire so forcefully to be slaughtered it breaks a horn.
Even I knew that was the one thing you never do to your worst enemy, an Oni's horn is their pride and dignity, now she had neither.
"-red skin was enough to be considered a demon... even if our horns are red not blackened bone... *sign* Sorry, I was caught up in the past"
"I don't mind, you hardly ever tell me about yourself, I like learning about who you are, ok?"
"Well, thanks. It's just, blue Oni have an affinity to magic, red with strength..."
She's back to keeping it short I guess. I hope in time she'll open up to me more, not just Arisu.
"I'd say you're a bit of both, you know? You've been learning magic at least, combine that with your strength and I bet one day you'll be stronger than Rider"
I was serious, the only reason I won the duel against her in the first place was because of the rules and lack of equipment.
Unbeknownst to me at the time however, Ota would start to take her magic training far more seriously from that day on.